Clean Energy Jobs in Massachusetts
In my last post, I profiled energy-related jobs for the full United States. This post uses the same framework at the energy jobs within Massachusetts. I then examine how the clean energy economy has rapidly expanded in the commonwealth over the last seven years using data from the MassCEC.
According the the 2017 United States Energy & Employment Report (USEER), Massachusetts had 170,560 energy-related jobs as of the first quarter of 2016. Those jobs make up 5.0% of all public and private jobs in the commonwealth tracked in the Bureau of Labor Statistics’ Quarterly Census of Employment and Wages. Massachusetts has a smaller proportion than the national percentage of 5.6% of all jobs in the energy sector, which is likely because the state uses less energy per capita, has little auto manufacturing facilities, and does not directly extract any fossil fuels within state boundaries.
Clean, Traditional, and Fossil Fuel energy jobs in Massachusetts
Massachusetts data from the 2017 USEER is displayed below. Energy efficiency is by far the highest category of energy jobs, employing overall 80,000 residents in the commonwealth. Electric power generation is next with 38,400 jobs, followed by 26,800 jobs in motor vehicles, 16,150 jobs in energy transmission/distribution, and only 8,840 jobs in fuels/extraction.
Because it lacks extractive industries, Massachusetts has a far larger percentage of clean energy jobs (51%) than the country as a whole (34%). The pie charts below compare the proportion of Massachusetts clean, traditional, and fossil fuel jobs to the United States. Over 87,000 positions within the commonwealth can be classified as “clean energy” jobs, with nearly 73,000 employees classified as “traditional energy” jobs. Massachusetts only has 10,500 jobs (6% of the energy sector) that directly involve fossil fuels.
The table below shows Massachusetts energy jobs sorted by their USEER sub-category and energy type. I chose to classify jobs as “clean” only if they represent employment in a new low-carbon energy technology. Thus, jobs in traditional hydropower or traditional HVAC are not “clean” in this table. I think this method provides a more nuanced view of the Massachusetts energy economy than a simple clean / dirty dichotomy. If you want to modify the classification for Massachusetts energy jobs, you can download my input data from this spreadsheet or download the original USEER state data.
Tracking Jobs via the MassCEC Clean Energy Industry Reports
While comprehensive, the USEER is not the only data source on the clean energy economy. One such source is the Massachusetts clean energy industry report. Since 2011, the Massachusetts Clean Energy Center (MassCEC) has released a report each year that includes data on jobs, wages, growth, and other indicators for the clean energy economy within the commonwealth. A graphic from the 2017 report showing overall indicators is included below.
As described in a previous post, US Labor Statistics do not currently include specific categories for clean energy jobs. In 2011, the MassCEC worked with BW Research to address this challenge and devised a clear definition of “clean energy jobs” based on the Massachusetts Green Communities Act. BW Research then uses this definition to conduct systematic conducts surveys of Massachusetts businesses in industries like construction or manufacturing to estimate the number of clean energy jobs within the Commonwealth. The surveys have revealed rapid growth: clean energy jobs have increased from roughly 60,000 jobs in 2010 to nearly 110,000 jobs in 2017.
A quick glance at the above data shows that the MassCEC numbers don’t match the USEER data. This difference occurs for a variety of reasons. First, the MassCEC and BW Research definitions for clean energy technology categories are different from USEER energy technology categories. The MassCEC also only counts clean energy, which leaves out other energy jobs in the traditional and fossil fuel categories. In addition, any statistical method of sampling will always include a certain amount of error.
Even with these challenges, the USEER and MassCEC data show very similar numbers. The data on energy efficiency diverges by about 2000 jobs, and renewable energy totals are also close. These small differences, along with very similar sampling methodologies conducted by BW Research for both studies, provide confidence that both data sources can be combined for insights on the overall Massachusetts energy economy.
In my next post, I’ll begin to explore the types of jobs that exist within the largest clean energy area of employment in Massachusetts: energy efficiency.
